This application is a 371 of PCT/ES00/00320 filed Aug. 10, 2000. The disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
A device for fixing electrical components.
The present Utility Model application, as its title indicates, consists of a xe2x80x9cDevice for fixing electrical componentsxe2x80x9d whose new characteristics of construction, shape and design fulfill the object for which it has specifically been planned, with maximum safety and effectiveness.
The fixing of electrical components, for example battery terminals, on base elements, such as an electrical circuit board, are normally carried out conventionally by providing a bolt which is potted on said base element, so that both elements are joined and form a single piece. The potting is carried out in such a way that the shaft emerges perpendicularly from the base element and is ready to receive the electrical component in question, which is held by means of a nut threaded on the shaft of the bolt.
Joining the bolt to the base element by using potting techniques are expensive, which negatively affects the cost of the electrical assembly. Therefore, solutions have been proposed, such as making a hole in said base element to pass the shaft of the bolt through its inside, with the head remaining underneath the base element.
The drawback of this type of connection of the bolt with the base element is that the bolt is not usually fixed rigidly in the latter, and the bolt head constitutes an undesirable electrical contact point.
The present invention has been developed in order to resolve all these said drawbacks, providing a device for fixing the electrical components with an advantageous configuration, which allows said electrical components to be fixed safely and at small cost compared to conventional fixing devices.
In general terms, the device for fixing electrical components, which is the object of the present invention, is of the type which comprises, as described above, a base element, a bolt whose head is joined to said base element and a nut threaded on the bolt to hold an electrical component which is inserted in the same, for example a battery terminal.
The peculiarity of the device for fixing electrical components of the invention lies in the fact that it includes, moreover, a holding element which is inserted in the bolt. In this way, when the nut is threaded on the bolt, the holding element expands inside the base element and blocks the bolt with respect to said base element, thus preventing any movement of the latter.
In accordance with an advantageous feature of the fixing device of the invention, the holding element comprises a surface provided with a central orifice, inside which the body of the bolt passes. A number of legs project from said surface, which conveniently couple in housings made in the base element. These legs of the holding element include a series of teeth which serve to ensure that the holding element is fixed in said housings of the base element.
Preferably, the holding element has four legs and the base element has a housing with dimensions which are complementary to those of the bolt head. Said base element also comprises four peripheral housings in which said four legs of the holding element are inserted.
The bolt is thus fixed safely by its head in the base element, since the provision of a holding element, such as that described, makes it difficult to extract the bolt from the base element in the event that a force is applied to the shaft of the bolt. This also has a positive effect in ensuring the effective fixing of the electrical component. It should especially be noted that by means of the device of the present invention, electrical components are effectively fixed in an economical way.